Untitled 1999

Doug Ohlson made this untitled painting with, what looks like, thinned-down acrylic on canvas. It's all about how the color interacts, and you can feel the push and pull as Ohlson worked. The painting has four sections; each with bold geometric shapes. Look how the pink and orange of the first section bleed into the canvas, contrasting with the clean lines of the stripes. This contrast gives the piece a raw, process-oriented feel, like you're seeing the artist's thought process laid bare. There's a real material honesty. It is like he’s revealing the mechanics of painting. It reminds me of the work of someone like Agnes Martin, with the quiet and careful placement of line and color. This piece is less about a fixed statement and more about the openness of seeing and thinking.